"Eli, what do you think it is this time?" Eli's partner, Umi, asked from the passenger's seat.
"Based on the coroner reports, nothing was missing from any of the bodies, which rules out a fair amount of monsters." Eli began. Her eyes were glued on the dark road ahead of her. "I would have to go with either ghost or demon. Maybe even a witch." Umi stared at Eli.
"How do we know it's not just some psychopath going on a rampage?"
"No one has been seen on the sites of the deaths. No footprints, weapons, or traces of any other DNA have been found either. Tell me that doesn't seem bizarre to you."
"I guess you're right." Umi glanced at the time on the car's dashboard. It was three in the morning. "I'm going to get some sleep before we get to business later. Are you fine staying up to drive?"
"Yep. Just go to sleep and we should be there by the time you wake up."
Eli parked her car at the motel's parking lot. She looked at the dashboard, seeing it was now seven in the morning. She looked over at her partner, who was fast asleep against the window. Eli stopped the engine, unbuckled her seat belt, and stepped out of the car. She breathed in the fresh air and stretched, which was much needed after driving for over ten hours. After finishing, she walked to the motel's main office. She pulled the door open, greeted by an empty room that smelled faintly of cigarettes and cleaning solutions. The door rang as she opened it, bringing out a lanky man who appeared to work there.
"How much would it cost to rent a room for two for a week?" Eli called out, seeing the man.
"That'll be ¥16400." Eli pulled a credit card out of her pocket, a fake one just like all the rest she owned. The man took the card from her and swiped it in the machine.
"Thank you and enjoy your stay at Choice Motel, Suzuki-san." He said, handing the credit card back with a pair of room keys. Eli took her credit card and keys back, placing the card back into her pocket. She walked back out of the office, spinning the keys around her finger and grabbing it right as the door shut behind her. She looked back over to the car, seeing that Umi was now up and stretching as well.
"Hey, Umi, catch." Eli threw the room keys at Umi, who was still facing the other way. At the sound of Eli's voice, Umi turned to face Eli, catching the keys in her hands.
"It's so like you to be on your toes this early in the morning, Umi." Eli chuckled. Umi looked at the keys that were now in her hand.
"Room 22?" Umi asked, seeing the tag that was attached to the key.
"Yep. Let's head in so that we can research a bit before we go to the crime scenes."
Umi pulled a messenger bag out from her seat, containing her laptop, case information, and monster guidebook. "Good idea." Umi slung her bag over her shoulder and began to walk in the general direction of the rooms, searching for their room. Eli walked behind Umi, following her into the room once she found it. Eli shut the door behind her, then dropped onto a bed before Umi could take it. Eli let out a sigh as she pulled her pistol out of her holster, hidden under the rim of her pants just above her hips. She set it on the bed next to her and shut her eyes.
"Eli, you should sleep. I'll wake you up in a couple hours." Eli heard Umi say from the bed besides her, along with the tapping of keyboard keys.
"What about the research?" Eli glanced over at Umi.
"It's fine, I can do it myself. It's not that hard. Remember, our job puts our lives in serious danger, so you have to make sure you're getting enough sleep to be in your best state." Umi answered. Eli sighed, knowing she was right.
"Don't be afraid to wake me up if you need me."
"I'm not planning on it." Eli closed her eyes once again. Umi sighed at Eli's antics. Sure, she was a great help, and an even better hunter, but she often puts herself after everything. Umi opened up some of the file cases on her laptop. She looked at the files of some of the victims; how they were found, where they were found, age, gender, and occupation, trying to find a link between the victims. Umi dug in her bag, pulling out a map of the area along with some thumbtacks. She walked around the motel room, looking for a place to put her work.
She came across the closet, the perfect place to put it, being out of plain view upon entrance. Umi began to thumbtack the corners of the map to the wall, stabilizing it in place. She went back over to her bed, grabbing her laptop and bringing it with her back to the closet. In one arm, she held the laptop along with a small container of thumbtacks. She opened up the first victim's profile. Looking at the location of death on the report, she placed a red thumbtack on the same location of the map. She flipped to the next victim, placing another red thumbtack where they died. She repeated the process until all eleven deaths were marked on the map. She came back to her bag, pulling out a black sharpie, then made her way back to the closet. She uncapped the marker with her mouth, her other hand still holding the laptop, and began to draw on the map.
"Hah... That's interesting." Umi said, the pen cap still being held by her teeth. She looked at her handiwork. It seemed as if all the mysterious deaths happened within a certain radius, all quite close to each other. She graphed out what looked to be the middle of the area where all the deaths happened, circling it with the sharpie. She capped the pen and looked at her work again.
"If the deaths really are only happening in a certain radius, whatever is causing this must be located in that area..." Umi thought out loud to herself. She minimized the case files on her laptop and opened up a new tab with a digital map, giving her the chance to look at whatever was in the center.
She eventually found herself looking at the same thing as the charted map in front of her. She looked to see a white icon right where she had circled on her map. Underneath the icon, it read that it was an apartment complex. She clicked the icon, wanting to get more information about the place. Upon further research, the place seemed completely normal, no unfortunate accidents or deaths happening within the vicinity.
Umi looked at the time, an hour has already passed since Eli first went to sleep. She sighed, though she was happy she got a lead on the case. Umi heard footsteps from behind her.
"Up already, Eli?"
"Yea. That's all the rest I need for now. I can catch up on sleep tonight." Eli responded, yawning. "So, how'd the research go?"
"Look for yourself." Umi stepped out of the way to allow Eli to look at her work. "I placed pins where the deaths happened and realized, they all seemed to be very close to each other. Using information based off some of our other cases that were similar to this one, I was able to graph out the radius of the attacks. Since there is a radius, whatever is killing these people should be located at the middle, right here." Umi pointed at the smaller circle. "After even further research, I found that an apartment complex is located right there, though there hasn't been any tragedies that happened there." Eli stared at the map.
"An apartment complex?" Eli furrowed her brows in thought. "If we really are dealing with a ghost, someone could've brought in an item it was linked to. There wouldn't need to be a tragedy."
"That's what I was thinking as well. We need to see the bodies to see what type we're dealing with."
"Alright, we'll shower and then head out. We smell like animals." Eli replied, walking into the bathroom and flicking on the lights. "I'll go first." Umi chuckled at Eli, knowing she was right. "Go get our stuff from the car. The keys are on the drawer by my bed." Eli shut and locked the door behind herself.
She looked around the bathroom. A metal shelf mounted on the wall held white towels of multiple sizes as well as toilet paper. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her long, blonde hair, held up in a ponytail, was messy from sleep. She pulled out her hairband, letting her hair tumble down below her shoulders. She set her hairband down on the sink and started the water before undressing, setting her holster on the counter as well. She stepped into the shower's hot water, letting it run against her back. The heat felt good after all the constant driving and injuries she sustains from the job, though she didn't mind it if she was able to save people. Once her hair was thoroughly wet, she looked for a bottle of the cheap hotel shampoo. She squirted the soap onto her hand and massaged it in her hair.
"We really need to invest in better soap..." Eli grumbled, rinsing the soap out of her hair.
Eli shut off the water once she was done rising her hair and washing her body. She strained her hair, trying to drip as little water as possible before grabbing a towel and drying herself more. She secured the towel around herself before walking to the hair dryer located on the wall. Seeing that her brush was with her stuff that Umi brought in, she had to go out and get it. Eli walked out of the bathroom, only having the towel covering her body.
"Did you get our stuff, Umi?" Eli asked the girl who was sitting off the due of the bed, staring at her computer screen. Umi looked over at Eli, but immediately looked back down, still being flustered by 'shameless' behaviors.
"Y-Yea. The bags are on the floor in between our beds and the suits are on the table by the entrance." Umi quickly replied. Eli began to laugh at her, while going to get some things from her bag.
"We've worked together how long now and you still act like this?" Eli hoisted her bag off the floor and onto her bed.
"We've known each other for basically our whole lives, but started hunting together when I was fourteen... That would be ten years."
"Exactly. We're like sisters now. You don't need to get flustered every time you see my body." Eli replied. Eli was familiar with the concept of family, as she had a little sister before. Umi was the only child, so the closest she ever got to an older sister was Eli. Eli reached into her bag and pulled out her brush, along with a pair of underwear. She also grabbed the suit before heading back into the bathroom. Now having her brush, Eli brushed her hair while using the hair dryer to dry her hair, careful to keep her suit dry. Once her hair was brushed and dry, Eli started to dress herself. After putting on her underwear, she pulled on her white dress shirt to go under her suit. She buttoned the shirt, flipping the collar down temporarily so she could put on the black pants that went with it. Once her pants were fastened, she tucked in her dress shirt and placed her gun holster back where it was previously, hidden under the rim of her pants. Eli flipped her collar back up, only to tie her tie skillfully in place. Once she was done she flipped her collar back down, finishing with a black blazer. She inspected herself in the mirror, straightening anything that seemed off. Once she was satisfied with the way she looked, she tied her hair up in her signature ponytail and left the bathroom.
"Your turn." Eli said to Umi, walking over to her bed to examine her pistol.
"Alright. I'll be quick." Umi closed her laptop and took her clothes from the table, making sure she had everything she needed. Once she did, she disappeared into the bathroom. Eli placed her gun back into its holster and grabbed the FBI badge Umi had tossed onto her bed. She placed it into a pocket hidden on the inside of the blazer. Eli also pulled out a pair of black boots to go with her suit. With their job, boots were much more favorable than heels.
Some time passed as Eli reviewed the case. She reached for the remote, looking to play some television in the background as she worked. She switched through the channels, until a certain one caught her eye.
"...yet again in the Akihabara district." Eli, missing the first half of what the news reporter had to say, read the scrolling banner at the bottom of the screen.
"Breaking news... Another mysterious death in the Akihabara district." Eli read out loud to herself. As if on cue, Umi walked out of the bathroom.
"In an Akihabara hotel, a young man, aged 22, was recently found dead in his room with multiple stab wounds. Police suspect this to be the same killer as before, seeing that any possible evidence has yet to be found." At this, a map of the hotel's location was placed on the to right of the screen. Eli glared at the screen.
"Change of plans, Umi. We're going to that crime scene." Not needing to ask any questions, Umi shut off the television. Eli picked up her keys and strode out the front door, Umi following code behind. She ducked into her car, and as soon as Umi was in with her, she sped off.
Eli slowed as she reached the location. She parked her car in the hotel's parking lot and stepped out of her car. She slammed the door shut and began to walk towards the crowd of people forming at the hotel's entrance, knowing Umi would be behind her. The crowd was held off at the hotel's entrance by two policemen. Eli pushed through the crowd to face the policemen.
"Agent Hiraki, FBI, and my partner, Agent Yano." Eli introduced, reaching into her blazer's inner pocket to show the officers her badge. Standing besides her, Umi did the same. Once they were sure the policemen had a good look at them, they flipped their badges closed and placed them back in their pockets. "We're here to examine the crime scene."
"O-Of course. Go right ahead, Agent Hiraki, Agent Yano." The man on the left bowed, showing the two respect before stepping aside. "That would be on the third floor." With that, Eli continued forward. She walked into the hotel's lobby, scanning the room for the elevators. Umi elbowed her gently to gain her attention, and walked ahead of Eli to the elevators. Umi pressed the button to call the elevators and waited. Since the hotel's traffic was low, the elevator came quickly, letting out a small ding as the doors opened. Umi walked inside, Eli following behind, and pressed the button with a three on it.
"Do you have your EMF detector?" Eli asked, using the elevator's reflective surface as a mirror to straighten out her suit.
"Do you really need to ask this every time we're on a case?" Umi remarked, raising her eyebrows. "Of course I have it." Eli smiled and rolled her eyes at Umi's reply. When the elevator's bell rang once again, Eli regained her serious composure before the door opened. Eli walked out of the elevator first and made her way to the open hotel door, a police officer standing by the doorway, looking into the room. Eli peered into the room, immediately noticing the red-stained carpet. Eli cleared her throat to gain the attention of at least one of the cops. As planned, the one standing in the doorway turned to see who was there.
"Agent Hiraki, FBI." Eli began once again, pulling out the badge, showing it to him, and then putting it back into her pocket.
"And I'm Agent Yano, her partner." Umi said as she showed her badge as well. "Mind filling us in on the details?" The cop looked at the two women skeptically.
"The victim was a man named Arata Mori. His body was found lying here, multiple stab wounds in the chest. Like the previous cases, the murder weapon hasn't been found. It's as if it just disappears afterwards..." He finally answered. The last phrase caught Umi and Eli's attention. After hearing what the cop had to say, Eli left Umi to question the cops while she investigated the hotel room.
Knowing that Eli wouldn't be able to take out the EMF with the cops around, Umi called them all over for questioning, stepping away from the door. Eli reached into her blazer and pulled out her own EMF detector. She turned it on, the detector immediately going from green to red accompanied by a constant buzzing noise. Eli waved it around the area a bit, the light not faltering once. She slowly began to wander the room, scanning the area to see where the trace begins to fade. The farther she moved away from the blood spot, the weaker the signal got. It didn't seem to spike anywhere but where the blood was.
Eli turned the device off and placed it back where it was before. She walked out of the room, Umi still questioning them so couple feet away from the door. Umi focused on Eli once she spotted her.
"Thank you for your cooperation. We will be on our way now." Umi bowed to the cops, and began to walk with Eli once she was past her.
"What'd you learn from them?" Eli asked as she pushed the elevator button.
"There were no signs of forced entry and no one was seen entering the room but him." Umi started. The elevator opened up, so the two walked inside. "There were no signs of a struggle as well. Everything seemed peaceful until a neighbor heard them scream."
"And it was the neighbor that called in?"
"Yep. They called as soon as they heard their scream. What did you find?"
"This definitely is a ghost. My EMF was going crazy in there." Eli replied. Umi sighed.
"How do the victims connect then? Is there a pattern that the ghost is following?"
"We'll figure that out later. For now, we need to look at the bodies."
The two walked into the morgue where the bodies have been sent. There wasn't anyone waiting in the room or besides the counter.
"Hello?" Umi called out, suspecting them to be in another room. They waited patiently for someone to come out. Eli tapped her foot on the ground as she peered past the counter. A couple minutes past when, eventually, a girl with long brown hair and glasses came out from another room.
"Sorry for the wait. Need something?" The girl asked, pushing her glasses up slightly. Eli and Umi brought out their badges.
"May we see the body of Arata Mori?"
"Of course! Right this way." The girl opened the door leading behind the counter, letting them walk through. She began to walk back from the way she came from, leading Eli and Umi to where the bodies were kept. The room was a bit cold, probably to keep the bodies fresh for longer. She walked to one of the chambers in the wall, containing the bodies.
"I was just looking at a bit." She opened the chamber and pulled out the shelf carrying the body. She flipped the cloth on top of him off. "It looks like he died from the stab wounds. I haven't found anything else in the short time I've had the body." Eli looked at the man's body. It she didn't know any better, she would've thought it was just another crazed human being doing the killings.
"Do you happen to have the body of Fujiya Namiko and Watanabe Ryo as well?" Umi asked from besides her.
"Fujiya Namiko and Watanabe Ryo..." The girl said out loud, looking for the chambers that held them.
"Ah, these two." She pulled open each one and brought the bodies out. "There you go! Feel free to examine whoever is necessary for your case."
"Thank you... Sora-san." Eli replied, finding the girl's name by looking at the nametag on her chest.
"Just doing my job." She responded bashfully. "I'll be in the other room if you need me." With that, she walked out of the room.
"She was pretty cute for someone who deals with dead bodies on a daily basis, right Umi?" Eli whispered, a smirk on her face. Umi remained silent as she examined the body.
"Hand me those gloves." Umi held her hand out in wait for the items. Eli sighed and grabbed a fresh pair, placing one in Umi's hand.
"Geez, you need to loosen up a bit. Having no fun while on the job isn't good for you." Eli said, watching as Umi touched the body with her gloved hand. Umi narrowed her eyebrows as she studied the stab wounds. Suddenly, she placed her finger into one of the gashes. She pulled her finger out and examined it. The previously clean gloved finger now was black. Eli furrowed her brows at this as well.
"Ectoplasm?" She placed the glove on her hand and walked to the other bodies. Eli followed what Umi did, having the same results with both the bodies of Namiko and Ryo.
"These two have it as well."
"This ghost is dangerous, especially with the rates of the deaths that have been happening." Umi took the glove off her hand and tossed it into the trash. "We need to find who it is, and fast."
"Agreed." Eli put her glove in the trash and pushed the bodies back into the chambers in the wall. "Are we going to that apartment complex?"
"Yea. Come on, Eli." Umi answered. She walked out of the room and past Sora, who was sitting at the desk, Eli following behind.
"Find everything you need?" She asked as she looked away from her screen and up at the two.
"Yes we did, thank you." Umi dipped her head to show her thanks.
"Alright. Good luck with your case." The girl responded. Eli smiled at her as she left the building.
"Thank you for your time, Sora-san."
The two left the morgue and hopped back into their car. Eli started up the car and began to drive towards their next destination.
"When we get to the apartments, we'll split up. It'll be quicker, seeing we don't know how many rooms we'll have to search." Eli told Umi. "You should contact the owner of the place for easier access to rooms."
"I wrote down the phone number earlier. I'll call them right now." She answered. Eli hummed in response. Umi opened the glove compartment in front of her and pulled out a phone, buried in a number of other phones. Umi reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a slip of paper. She typed the numbers into the phone and held it up to her ear.
"Hello? This is Agent Yano, FBI. My partner and I would like for permission to search your Yokosa Apartments located in Akihabara... You would like proof?" Umi sighed. "Of course. Let me give you the number of my director." Umi read off the number, which she had memorized after so many years. Eli smirked when she heard the number. Of course, it wasn't the number of an FBI director, but one of their hunter friends, Maki. Maki was the one their circle of hunters all contacted for reasons like this. She had a sharp personality, which made for amusing phone calls. Umi was put on hold as he called Maki.
"Good luck to him..." Eli chuckled, knowing Maki's way of handling phone calls. After a couple minutes, Umi was put back on the call.
"Oh, we have your full permission to search the apartment complex? Alright, thank you for your time. Goodbye." Umi hung up the phone and placed it back into the glove compartment.
"He's faxing a letter of consent to the current worker at the apartments. This'll make it easier for us."
"Alright. We're almost there. I'll take the first room and every other one from that point on. You'll do that with the second room on." Umi stared out the window of the car.
"Right there. That's the building." Umi pointed out. Eli drove into the parking lot and parked her car. They left their car and walked to the main office. Eli opened the door and walked inside with Umi behind her. Behind a desk, a woman sat, looking at her computer.
"Hello, we're here to search the apartments." Eli stated, showing her badge.
"Yes, I got a message from the boss saying to let you do what you want. Go on ahead." Eli placed her badge back into its pocket.
"Agent Hiraki, go on to the rooms. I'll begin my search here." Umi said to her. Eli nodded and made her way back outside. Eli left Umi in the office and began to walk to the actual apartment rooms. Luckily for them, there was only one main building with three floors. Eli came to the first room of the building and knocked on the door. After a minute an old lady with snow white hair appeared from inside the room.
"Hello, I'm Agent Hiraki, a part of the FBI. I'm currently undergoing an investigation and have been given the owner's permission to search the property, though I will still prefer to have your consent before I conduct the search." Eli stated politely, being kind to her elder.
"Oh, of course you may, young lady. I have nothing to hide. Come on inside!" The old lady smiled at Eli. Eli walked inside the room. All the lights were on, making the environment seem more cheerful.
"Are any of these your personal belongings?" Eli asked, wanting to narrow down the search.
"This apartment happened to already have furniture when I got here. The only things that I brought were my dishes and clothing." She answered.
"Alright. Would you mind sitting outside while I conduct the search? It will only be a couple minutes."
"Sure. Take your time, Sweetie." The old lady walked outside and waited just beyond the doorway. Now with the old lady out of the room, Eli could take out her EMF without any suspicion. She walked out of the view of the doorway and turned on the EMF. She wandered around the apartment, surveying the area with the EMF. There was no response anywhere. Eli walked back out of the apartment, EMF hidden back under her blazer. The old lady was conversing with a neighbor, who was now also out of their room. Umi probably had already began to get to work on that one.
"You may go back into your room now. Thank you for your time." Eli bowed to the old woman and headed to the next room.
An hour of fruitless search passed. Eli was on her last room of the second floor, Umi right behind her. Her hand had begun to get sore from her constant knocking on the doors, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. She knocked on the door once again and waited. Eli looked down at the ground, waiting for the door to open. As she did so, the door was quickly pulled open.
"Sorry about that, what'cha need?" A voice called from behind the open door. Eli looked up to see the owner of it.
"You're a sight for sore eyes..." Eli murmured as she looked at the girl. The girl raised an eyebrow at the comment.
"And who might you be?" She asked amusingly. Eli coughed into her closed fist and pulled out her badge.
"Agent Hiraki, FBI. I'm here investigating for a case." She replied, regaining her professionalism. The girl hummed in response.
"Want to come inside then?" Eli nodded.
"I would need to for my investigation." The girl stepped aside, allowing Eli to walk inside. Eli walked past the girl and looked around the apartment. The place was simple, only having the necessities. Eli looked back at the girl, her emerald eyes watching her curiously.
"So, what's your name?" Eli asked, wanting to get to know the beautiful lady better.
"Is that really necessary for your investigation, Miss Gorgeous?" The girl remarked daringly.
"Not really, but I would appreciate a name to link to such a pretty face." Eli flirted, feeling more bold after the girl's previous statement. If Umi saw what she was doing, she would never hear the end of it.
"Tojo Nozomi." The girl replied.
"Tojo Nozomi-san..." Eli repeated. "How long have you lived here?"
"I only moved in about a month ago." She answered simply.
"Would you please step outside so that I can search your room?"
"Sure thing, Agent." Nozomi said as she sauntered out of the room, holding her hands behind her back. She stopped right after the doorway, smiling innocently at Eli. Eli tried her best to ignore the extremely cute girl that continued to stare at her so that she could actually get work done, not that she really wanted to leave. Eli walked past the entry hall and into the living room, out of Nozomi's vision. She took the EMF out of under her blazer and began to scan the room. She slowly wandered the room, making sure to scan everything with the EMF.
"What'cha doing?" Nozomi's voice called out from behind her. Eli quickly flipped the EMF off and placed it under her blazer.
"Just looking around..." Eli stated, trying her best to act casual after almost being caught.
"Hmm, alright. I'll go back outside for ya then." Nozomi walked back out of the room, leaving Eli a bit confused. With Nozomi back out of the room, she took the EMF out once again and continued her work. Again, the room seemed clear of any ghosts. The EMF didn't pick up a trace. Eli sighed as another room came as clean. She placed the EMF back under her blazer and straightened her clothing out. Eli walked back through Nozomi's apartment and out the door, where Nozomi was leaning against the door.
"Find everything okay?" She asked.
"Yep, you're all good. Thank you for your cooperation, Tojo-san." Eli replied. Eli reached into a front pocket and pulled out a small notepad and pen. She quickly wrote something down on the piece of paper, proceeding to rip it out of the notepad once she was done. She folded the paper in half, then took Nozomi's hand and placed the paper in it. "Let's meet again, Tojo-san." Eli said with a wink.
'XXX-XXX-XXXX
Call me sometime'